S1 Episode 02: Origins
by firebreathingfishies
Summary: Sequel to 'Black Conscious'. After a narrow escape from the BLFC, the Doctor and Ashley end up a little further in the past than they intended, where evil creatures and unsettling truths are waiting. Complete.
1. Seeing Red

_This is part 2 of hopefully a series of stories (crosses fingers) about the Doctor and (my OC) Ashley. Part One was BLACK CONSCIOUS and is not entirely essential to read first, but it would help to understand just what the frick is going on :p_

* * *

**Chapter 1 **

**Seeing Red**

'Flying smooth and steady, Kathryn.'

'Roger that, Marv. You got anything on the screen yet?'

'Nope. No sign.'

Kathryn Golder scrunched her nose up slightly. She thought they might have picked up at least _some_ traces. They had been searching for nearly six months for their target and none of the team were about to give up yet. Not with the amount of money they were going to receive after their success. They would be set for life. Never had to work again. Kathryn had worked her whole life so she would never have to work again.

'Hang on…' Marv's voice added. Kathryn leaned towards the speaker. 'I think I've got something.'

Kathryn's heart began to thud and even in the clammy, crampt conditions of her navigation station she felt a chill. 'What kind of something?'

'Time pocket.' Marv replied, the excitement obvious in his voice. 'Straight ahead. Should we proceed?'

'Damn right we should proceed. This is the first rift we've come across.'

She could feel the ship tilting to the left and her stomach fluttered. She prayed that this was it. If they had found their target… She would have no words to explain how happy she would be. She would finally be able to rest.

'Can you get a visual up for me, Marv?'

The screen in front of her flickered on after a few moments. She squinted her eyes at it, trying to figure out what she was looking at. The golden anomaly swirled in the blackness of space, shining and sparking. Kathryn was stunned to silence by its beauty. Marv was saying something on the radio but she wasn't listening. She was only snapped out of her daze when the ship jerked violently.

'It's dragging us in!' Marv was yelling. 'I can't get away from it!'

Kathryn was sweating. 'Full power!' she ordered. 'Put her in reverse!'

'She's not responding! Kat, we're getting sucked right in! What the hell do we do?'

Kathryn stared at the swirling mass on the screen. The ship shook around her. Marv yelled and screamed through the radio, but she didn't hear him. She smiled a little.

Now she could rest.

* * *

Ashley felt faint beneath the hot sun. In fact, she felt like she was hallucinating. The pain in her shoulder had turned into a pulsating throb, and she hoped that what she was seeing was just a side effect from almost dying a few times. In reality she was just asleep in the Tardis while the sailed through time and space back to her apartment with the broken back door and her overly effeminate housemate. Actually, screw that, she hoped she was still lying on her couch with the empty bottle of wine with _Quiz Call_ on the TV.

She closed her eyes, hoping to see her dark living room when she opened them again.

She would be so lucky.

Beside her, the Doctor was slack jawed and wide eyed. He had finished his _what_ outburst and was staring out at the dozens of scantily clad locals bowing down in the shin-high grass. None of them looked like they were going to get up any time soon.

'I think you need to take your Tardis to a garage.' Ashley said, her voice wavering.

'This can't be right.' The Doctor frowned, shaking his head. 'Why are we here? How did we get _here_?'

Ashley glanced around. 'There's no brain-stealing psychos around here, is there?'

'I think you'll be lucky to find a decent _knife_ around here.' The Doctor replied. He looked to her, his expression still bemused. 'Did you ever see _10,000 BC_?'

Ashley scowled at him. 'You stop that stupid talk right now, matey.'

The Doctor looked back at the surrounding people in awe. 'Judging by their clothes and their weapons I'd place them around about… 14,200 BC. It's been a while since I visited this era. Never was a big fan to be honest. Lots of things that can eat you.'

Ashley frowned. 'But they were talking perfect English. Are you trying to tell me that cavemen could talk perfect English?'

'The Tardis is behind that,' the Doctor replied with a shrug. 'It translates to the best of its ability so we can understand them. And they're not cavemen. There's women here too.'

Ashley rolled her eyes. 'Well as much as I'd love to stand around taking in the sheer magnificence of the Stone Age, may I remind you that I'm kind of bleeding to death here.'

The Doctor made a _pfft_ sound and waved a hand at her. 'You've got plenty of blood.' He stepped forward. 'You can all get up, you know.' He called to the bowing crowd. No one moved. Confused, the Doctor ran a hand through his hair. 'Hmm… Well then.'

Ashley rolled her eyes. 'Can you all get up, please?' she asked impatiently.

Immediately, they scrambled to their feet. The Doctor and Ashley glanced to each other in bewilderment, but neither of them spoke. A broad shouldered man with a deep tan and shaggy black hair and a matching beard moved forward and half bowed. His dark eyes settled on Ashley's shoulder.

'We can tend to your wound if you would allow us.' he said in a gruff voice. 'Our village is not far. We have a good doctor. He will heal you.'

Ashley leaned to the Doctor. 'They're not going to eat us or put our heads on sticks, are they?' she whispered.

'I shouldn't think so.' the Doctor whispered back. Ashley waited for him to say something else, but he only shrugged. 'Are we going then?' he asked.

'What are you asking me for?'

'You're the one with the hole in your shoulder.'

Ashley frowned briefly at him, and then glanced back to the group of expectant, dirty faces. She rolled her eyes. 'Well I suppose we've got no choice.' She muttered.

The Doctor grinned. 'Fantastic!' He turned to the man who had spoken. 'Come on then, let's go!'

The group quickly assembled into a kind of open topped square formation. The bearded man nodded ahead. 'That way.' He told them.

As the Doctor and Ashley started walking with the group bringing up the rear, the Doctor nudged Ashley. 'Cheer up!' he grinned. 'We're in history here.'

Ashley turned away sulkily and said nothing.


	2. Unsociable Locals

**Chapter 2**

**Unsociable Locals**

Apparently these people had a strange definition of 'not far'. They must have walked nearly five miles over hills and through valleys before they even saw the dark smoke rising from the village. By this point Ashley was definitely woozy, and was having to be helped along by the Doctor, who now had his brown coat draped over his shoulder, the top button of his shirt undone, his tie loosened and his sleeves rolled up. Despite that, he was still sweating.

'You should get a loincloth,' Ashley smirked up at him, her own face pale and sweaty. 'You would be like… Tarzan's nerdy cousin.'

The Doctor smiled back at her, but he looked concerned. 'I'll make a deal with you. You say conscious long enough for us to get to the village, and I'll get the resident fashion mogul to stitch me one up.'

Ashley laughed, and abruptly passed out.

* * *

The Doctor allowed the villagers to take Ashley away to their own doctor, trusting them in their insistences that they were going to help her. He had no reason not to trust them and, after the hellish escape from the BLFC, he needed to relax. Just for a little while.

'Hi there.' He smiled broadly at a woman dressed in what looked like an old animal pelt who was standing over a water trough. 'I'm the Doctor.'

The woman looked at him in bewilderment, frozen in her actions. She stared at him silently. Feeling awkward, the Doctor smiled and nodded, and then quickly moved away, letting out a rush of air through his lips.

_Take note on unsociable locals_, he thought, looking around.

The village was small, housing no more than about fifty people. From the looks of it the majority of the village were women and children. Most of them had retreated to their shelters and were watching the Doctor warily, keeping their families close. The Doctor looked around at them all, smiling and trying to look unthreatening, but he knew he wasn't doing a good job. Standing there with his short hair, his fabric clothes and clean-shaven face would look completely alien to them.

No pun intended.

He was about to head back to Ashley when he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. He turned and was taken by surprise by the person behind him. She looked young, probably no older than Ashley, with a deep mahogany tan and long, thick blonde – almost white hair. Her eyes were an ice blue and she stared at him with unblinking curiosity. She was barely covered with animal pelts, but she was covered enough for the Doctor not to blush all over.

'You're from the blue rock, aren't you?' she asked, eyebrows knitting together. 'I heard them talking about it.'

'Well it's not a rock but…' He paused at her curious expression and then smiled. 'If that's what you're calling it, yes. I'm the Doctor.'

She looked at his outstretched hand in confusion. 'You're a doctor too?' she asked.

The Doctor put his hand back in his pocket and shrugged his shoulders. 'Not the kind of doctor you're thinking. It's my name.'

'Your name is Doctor?'

'_The_ Doctor.'

She looked at him in bewilderment. He decided that even with the Tardis translating it was going to be difficult to communicate with these people.

'Can I ask you how you know about my uh… blue rock?' The Doctor asked. 'And I hear someone else refer to my friend as the um, Red Deity, if that rings any bells.'

The girl gasped, her hand moving to her mouth. 'The Deity is here?' she breathed. She turned to leave but the Doctor grabbed her arm.

'Hold on there just a minute. You all seem mightily impressed by her but I assure you, she's not naturally that colour.'

The girl looked at the Doctor with wide eyes. 'We have to get everything ready. Please let me go.'

The Doctor hesitated, and then released her. She began to run off, but then stopped and backtracked like she had forgotten something. She bowed once, said; 'Pleased to meet you,' and then hurried off again. The Doctor watched after her, amused.

She hadn't been gone thirty seconds when he felt tugging on the back of his shirt again. He turned, eyebrow cocked, to see a group of three young men standing nervously. The Doctor smiled and stretched his hand out again.

'I'm the Doctor.' They looked back at him in puzzlement. With a sigh, the Doctor dropped his hand. 'Okay, no hand shaking.'

'We can take you to the mountain.' One of the young men with shabby brown hair and bright green eyes told him, shifting uncomfortably on his feet.

The Doctor cocked his head curiously. 'The mountain?'

One of the other men, this one with jet black, shoulder length hair, pointed over his shoulder. The Doctor raised his eyes to the gigantic mountain that loomed over the village. He blinked and rubbed his forehead.

'I must be tired if I missed that.'

'If you want to see we should go now.' The brown haired man told him. 'Before the chief sees.'

The Doctor nodded, scaling the mountain with his eyes. 'I should really go and get Ashley…'

'She'll be fine. If you want to go, we have to leave now.'

The Doctor hesitated, mulling it over. Ashley would be fine. She would probably still be unconscious when he got back anyway, and this 'Red Deity' gave him the feeling that they weren't about to throw her to the sabre-toothed tigers anytime soon. 'Okay.' The Doctor nodded. 'Let's go then.'

* * *

Ashley winced when something cold dripped on her forehead. She frowned, but only closed her eyes tighter. She didn't want to wake up. Every part of her was aching and she didn't want to go to work. But she guessed that was her own stupid fault for drinking all that wine. But if Manny was up then it would probably be about twelve o'clock, and she needed to get ready and go to the bank before she actually started work at four…

Something dripped on her head again and she waved her hand. 'Gerroff me Manny…' she mumbled.

Suddenly she was hit by what felt like an ice-cold brick wall. She shot upright, squealing as the cold water seeped through her clothes. She looked around with wide eyes to the man standing over her, the last droplets of water dripping out of the crudely made bucket in his hands. He looked like he had just woken a hungry tiger.

'What the hell is wrong with you?' she yelled, bewildered and angered at the rude awakening. 'Why couldn't you have just shook me awake or something?'

The man with the bucket, who was actually on closer inspection just a boy, looked like he was about to cry. Before he had a chance too however, sunlight poured in through the entrance and a tall woman walked in. With a harsh bark she dismissed the boy and he raced outside without hesitation. Wet and a bit grouchy, Ashley stared up at the tall woman. She must have been about six foot five, with long, luxurious black hair and round dark eyes. Her clothing was simply a fur sash across her chest and a longer, matching sash around her waist. The fur looked smooth, almost like velvet. She stood silently.

'Um… hi.' Ashley said, now unnerved and thinking that the woman could probably cave her face in with a bitch slap.

The tall woman bowed. 'It's an honour to meet you, Deity.'

Ashley blinked. 'It's Ashley.'

The tall woman glanced back at her briefly and smiled thinly. 'I'm the chief's wife. He very much wants to meet you.'

Ashley shifted uncomfortably. 'Well if it's all the same with you I'd like to see the Doctor first.'

The tall woman looked puzzled. 'But the doctor has just tended to your wound.'

Ashley frowned and for the first time realised that her shoulder wasn't hurting as much. She glanced down to it to see that it was heavily bandaged with beige coloured fabric. She cocked an eyebrow. 'I don't mean that doctor. The man I came here with.'

'I'm afraid there's no time to look for him.' The tall woman replied, shaking off her confusion. 'The chief is waiting for you now. The ceremony must get underway.'

Ashley instantly felt worried. 'Ceremony?'

The tall woman smiled broadly. 'We've been waiting a long time for you.'

Ashley shuffled back slightly as the tall woman approached her. 'Well as much as I love parties I've had a bit of a crazy day… I think it still classes as a day anyway… And I'd kind of like to rest for a while, if that's all the same with you. Until my friend gets back. And after we've gone to get something from that uh, blue rock.'

Still smiling broadly and looking like she had ignored everything Ashley had just said, the tall woman grabbed Ashley's arm and pulled her easily to her feet. 'We've been waiting such a long time.'

Ashley swallowed hard. 'Great.' She squeaked. The tall woman pulled her outside and she couldn't help but think of a huge table covered in exotic fruits and flowers, with her own head as the centrepiece.


	3. The Writings On The Wall

_I'd just like to make a quick note saying that I'm no historian and I haven't got the faintest clue what the world was like 14000 BC!! So expect it to be completely unrealisitic in some places lol :P _

* * *

**Chapter 3 **

**The Writings on the Wall**

The mountain was further away than it had looked, and the Doctor began to wish that he had stayed at the village a little longer. Maybe drank some water or something. The heat was intense and the villagers were quick walkers. Usually he would have no problem in keeping up with them, but…well, it was _hot_. And he _had_ just been running for his life about an hour earlier.

They emerged out of the foliage of the jungle and the Doctor was relieved to see that they had finally reached the mountain. He rested his hands on his hips and looked up at it.

'That's a big mountain.' He commented.

The young man with the brown hair turned to him but said nothing. The Doctor realised they weren't very talkative. They had barely uttered a word since leaving the village, which made him wonder if they were worried about the consequences when they got back.

'The entrance is around this way.' The brown haired man told him. 'I'll take you there, but the others will have to stay here. They don't have the right of passage.'

'And I do?' the Doctor asked curiously.

The man glanced back to him. 'You are with the Deity.' With that, he began to head towards the mountain.

The Doctor half frowned. 'She's got a name you know!' He jogged to catch up. 'Speaking of names, what's yours anyway?'

The man glanced at him. 'I'm Firstborn.' He replied.

The Doctor cocked his eyebrow. 'Firstborn? That's your name?'

'That's what my mother calls me.'

'I'm guessing there's a lot of firstborns around here,' The Doctor commented. 'Does it not cause a bit of confusion?'

The young man looked bewildered. 'When would it cause confusion?'

'Well at dinner when your mum is calling you back. If she's standing shouting 'Firstborn' she'll have a lot of dinner guests.' He smiled broadly, but the young man continued to look at him. 'How about I just call you Peter? Peter's a good name.'

The man shrugged his shoulders weakly. 'I suppose you can.' Without another word, he pulled ahead and began jogging towards the mountain. The Doctor sighed at the increase in pace and jogged after him.

* * *

The Doctor peered into the dark, cavernous opening with his eyes narrowed and his nose screwed up. Peter, as the young man had been nicknamed, hung a little behind him and looked over his shoulder curiously.

'It's a bit _dark_, isn't it?' The Doctor said, squinting to see.

'I can make a torch.' Peter said quickly.

'Don't bother.' The Doctor replied, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his screwdriver. 'I think I can manage.'

Awestruck, Peter moved forward to inspect the gadget. When the Doctor pushed the button it glowed like a torch. Peter quickly scampered backwards, wild eyed.

'How did you do that?' Peter cried.

The Doctor glanced to him smiling. 'Are you coming then?' he asked, pointing the light into the cave. Peter hesitated, and then tentatively followed.

Inside the cave it was cooler and the air was damp. The Doctor found it a welcome relief from the blistering heat outside and was already dreading having to leave. The further inside they moved, the wider the tunnel became and it seemed to be sloping downwards slightly. There was a steady _drip, drip, drip_ somewhere in the surrounding darkness. The light from the screwdriver lit up the path ahead, casting eerie shadows on the strangely formed rocks.

'I take it you don't come down here often.' The Doctor said, noting the thick dust that covered the floor.

'No.' Peter replied. 'It's a sacred place.'

'How is that exactly?'

'It is a place of our ancestors.'

'Ah I get it.' The Doctor nodded, squinting ahead. 'A kind of… tribute thing.'

Peter said nothing in response. They moved on in silence, until the Doctor heard Peter stop behind him. He turned the light from the screwdriver on him and in a flat voice Peter said; 'This is as far as I go.'

The Doctor frowned. 'Why?' He turned the light down to the tunnel. 'What's down there…?' He trailed off as something caught his eye as the light panned across the cave wall. He brought the light back and approached the wall. 'Well what do you know…' He mumbled.

On the wall was a crudely drawn image of his very own Tardis. The Doctor grinned, pulling the light back to look at the rest of the wall. There were images of the Tardis all over the wall, drawn in various sizes. Beside each one there were two stick figures. Grinning, the Doctor looked to Peter.

'That's me, isn't it?' he beamed. 'Me and… I'm guessing Ashley. This is amazing…'

He spanned the wall with the light. The Tardis drawings stopped and in their place were something that wiped the grin from the Doctor's face. He frowned at the images of the Daleks. The stick figures were also there, apparently running in the opposite direction. Brow now furrowed deeply, the Doctor examined the rest of the wall. Cybermen, Sonarians, Slitheen… almost every foe the Doctor had ever faced had been scrawled all over the walls, each one with two stick figures in tow.

'How did they know about all of this?' the Doctor mumbled, seriously troubled by the images he was seeing. He turned to Peter. 'How far back do these go? When were they done?'

Peter shrugged his shoulders. 'Long before I was born. My mother says they have always been there.'

'This is impossible.' The Doctor said, shaking his head. 'How could they have possibly known all of this…' He turned and shone the light on the other wall and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Peter smiled fondly behind him. 'That's the Deity.' He confirmed.

'I guessed that.' The Doctor nodded.

There were hundreds of images of a feminine figure with bright red hair, surrounded by smaller figures. It was hard to establish what was going on in most of them, as the dampness on the walls had destroyed most of the images, but it was obvious that these were pictures of worship. The Doctor couldn't imagine anyone wanting to worship Ashley on this scale. She was special all right, but nowhere near _this_ special. In the Doctor's opinion, no one was this special.

'Is there a story behind this?' he asked Peter.

Peter nodded vigorously. 'Warriors from the sky.'

'Warriors from the sky.' The Doctor mulled it over for a moment, and then turned back to Peter. 'I think I've seen enough here. For now, anyway. I think I need a few words with your Deity.'

Peter shook his head. 'The celebration will have started. I don't think you will get a chance to speak with her.'

The Doctor felt his stomach grow heavy. 'Celebration?' That didn't sound good to him.

'The coronation.' Peter answered. 'So she can be accepted into our community.'

The Doctor sighed heavily. 'That means I'm going to have to run back, doesn't it?' He hurried past Peter and towards the exit of the cave. 'I just want to put my feet up for five minutes. Is that too much to ask?'

* * *

The fact that the village was now practically deserted didn't do much to ease his mind. Peter and the two other men who had escorted him to the mountain didn't look too concerned however, as they went over to the water trough to get a drink. The Doctor grabbed Peter's arm before he had a chance to reach it.

'Where's this celebration?' he asked.

'It's probably over by now.' Peter shrugged. 'But it's over there.' He pointed off to a large shelter, taller and bigger than the rest.

The Doctor nodded and ran over to it, wondering what it was with Ashley and disappearing. Why was it she was always being snatched? Was it just to make everything harder, or was she just majorly unlucky?

As he burst through the entrance of the huge shelter he was stunned into silence. He stared ahead in disbelief, his mouth dropping open.

Sitting on a high-backed chair with her head on one arm of it and her legs draped over the other, Ashley picked at a plate of fruit that rested on her stomach. Around her there were various people sitting around and talking quietly. They looked at the Doctor as he entered, and a hushed silence prevailed. Ashley glanced up at the sudden silence, the streaked makeup now washed from her face. Her shoulder was bandaged and her bloodied t-shirt had been replaced with one of the belly-top style animal pelts, although she still wore her jeans and heavy Doc Martin boots. She grinned broadly at the Doctor.

'You know I was keen to get home? Well I'm thinking maybe we could stay a little longer.' She grinned and popped a grape into her mouth.


	4. Bad Vibes

**Chapter 4**

**Bad Vibes**

Ashley could tell the Doctor was annoyed as he strode towards her. She had no idea where he had been, but he was dirty and sweaty and he had _that_ frown on his face. He only seemed to have that frown when he was annoyed or troubled. She glanced down at the fruits and vegetable on her lap, thinking of something to say before he had a chance to have a go at her. She picked something up at random and held it up just as the Doctor reached her and he took a breath to speak.

'I can share.' She smiled. She looked at the strange vegetable in her hand and frowned. 'What the hell is that?'

'It's an artichoke.' The Doctor replied, still frowning. He leaned towards her, pushing her hand aside. 'What are you _doing_ in here?'

Ashley shrugged her shoulders. 'Some big woman brought me in here. They sat me up on this chair and started giving me stuff, like big jugs of water and loads of fruit. I wasn't going to stop them so…' She narrowed her eyes and leaned towards him so they were close. 'They're not going to crown me as their queen and then throw me in a volcano or eat me or something, are they?' She gasped. 'Are they fattening me up?'

'There's something we need to look into.' The Doctor told her. 'It's _very_ important.'

Ashley rested her head on the back of the chair and sighed. 'Can't we rest a while? I'm tired.'

'There's no time to rest.' The Doctor told her sternly. 'There's something seriously wrong here. These people shouldn't know we even _exist_ let alone practically have my _history_ drawn on walls.'

Ashley narrowed her eyes. 'Excuse me?'

'In the mountain.' The Doctor told her quietly. 'There are paintings all over the walls. There's the Tardis and… and a few other things. I imagine you'd be pleased to know you have your very own section.'

'My own section? Cool.'

'It's not _cool_.'

Ashley's smile faded. She glanced down at the plate and sighed. 'You could ask nicely you know. Not everything's all doom and gloom.'

'I'd like to go now, if you don't mind.' The Doctor told her.

Ashley stood up, stretching her legs. 'Okey-dokey artichokey.' She said. She smiled and raised the vegetable in her hand. 'Get it? Artichoke.'

The Doctor looked at her impatiently. Ashley sighed and put the vegetable back down. 'Okay, okay I'm coming.' She muttered.

After getting down from the chair they had only gotten about five steps before their path was blocked. It was the tall woman, who Ashley had mentally named Xena and was contemplating sticking to it, seeing as these people didn't go by names.

'Can I ask where you're going?' Xena asked, not looking impressed with the attempted exit.

'Oh I just need to borrow her a while.' The Doctor smiled, holding onto Ashley's arm. 'Few things we have to talk about. Important… stuff.'

'Don't worry, I'm coming back. You don't think I'd just take off after you gave me all that stuff, do you?' Ashley chuckled, but her laugh trailed off at Xena's frown.

'It's bad luck to leave the tent so soon after the coronation.' Xena said. 'You have to stay until morning.'

The Doctor frowned. 'I'm sorry, but we can't hang around here. We've got… Deity things to be getting on with.'

Ashley cocked an eyebrow at him. 'Deity things?'

He looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

Xena turned her gaze on him and narrowed her eyes. 'It's the Doctor, isn't it?' She carried on without waiting for a reply. 'I apologise for my rudeness and I understand that you are from far away and may not fully understand our motives and reasoning, but I'd like for you to go by our rules while you stay in our village.'

Silence from the Doctor. Ashley looked at him warily, unsure to how he would react. After a moment he nodded and smiled.

'Of course.' He said. 'I'm sorry. We can wait.'

Xena smiled thinly. 'Thank you.' She looked back to Ashley. 'Now if you would return to your seat.'

Ashley and the Doctor exchanged glances. He nodded to her that it was okay and she trotted off back to the high-backed chair. The Doctor and Xena remained where they were for a moment longer, sizing each other up. Finally, the Doctor turned, pushing his hands in his pockets, and headed back over to Ashley.

He didn't like the vibes he was getting from this place at all.

* * *

Ashley was dozing. The chair might be made out of wood and rock-hard, but she had managed to get into a curled up position that she found comfortable and she had finally started to nod off. It was dark now, probably around about midnight, and the villagers had retreated to their shelters for the night, leaving her alone. She appreciated being left finally. There is only so much praising one person can take before they get a little bored by it.

The Doctor had wandered off earlier and she had no idea where he had gone. Since their _order_ to stay at the village by Xena he had been quiet, thoughtful and a little snappy. Ashley had tried to ask him about the mountain, and just exactly what he had seen, but he had only shook his head and said he would tell her later. But now he had vanished – again – and she wondered if he had gone back to the mountain without her.

A warm hand took her shoulder and shook her gently. She opened one eye and half smiled.

'See, that's how you wake people up.' She said. 'No icy buckets of water.'

The Doctor half smiled in return. 'We should be quick before people notice we've gone.'

Ashley sat up, arching her back to straighten out a kink. 'Are we going to commando roll out of here?'

'I think commando rolls are a bit over the top,' the Doctor replied, taking her hand and helping her up. 'But whatever floats your boat.'

They moved quickly and quietly to the entrance of the tent and peered out. The shelters were eerily lit by a flickering fire. There didn't appear to be anyone around. The Doctor took Ashley's hand tightly and led her quickly across the open area between the villages and towards the dark surrounding jungle.

'Don't you think we should take some light or something?' Ashley whispered. 'It's pitch black out here. There might be bears. Or dinosaurs.'

'It's fine.' The Doctor replied, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. 'I've got that covered.'

'What the hell is that?' Ashley frowned. 'A pen?'

'It's not a pen. It's my screwdriver. Sonic screwdriver.'

'You're not going to find many screws around here.'

'No it's not an actual _screwdriver_,' The Doctor told her defensively. 'It does lots of things.'

'Like what?'

The Doctor sighed. By now they were a safe distance from the village so he stopped and pressed the blue button on the side of the gadget. The end immediately lit up like a torch. Ashley didn't look impressed.

'So it doubles as a torch? You can get those on pen knives.'

The Doctor looked bewildered. 'Are you kidding? This thing is the most important thing I own! If it wasn't for this I'd still be locked up ready for memory-wiping and you would have an empty skull.'

'Now I doubt that's…'

'What are you doing?'

The Doctor and Ashley whirled around, the Doctor shining the light on the speaker. The young woman with the white-blonde hair shielded her eyes from the light and squinted at the two of them.

'What is that?' she asked, confused.

'Oh,' The Doctor pointed the light down at the ground. 'Um… we're just uh… walking.'

'Yeah. We needed some fresh air.' Ashley nodded.

The girl looked between them suspiciously. 'I know my brother went with you to the mountain yesterday. You shouldn't have gone there.'

Ashley glanced at the Doctor with a 'we're busted' look on her face. The Doctor moved forward to the girl and lowered his voice.

'Look, I'm sorry but it's very important that we go out there. We'll be back by morning. No one will know we have gone.' He looked at her with pleading eyes. 'Just don't tell anyone from the village.'

The girl looked towards Ashley, then back to the Doctor. 'I want to come with you.' She said. 'The jungle is dangerous at night and you might get lost.'

The Doctor winced. 'Ah… see I'd rather you didn't. No offence.'

The girl still looked offended. 'If you don't let me come I'll tell the chief.'

The Doctor sighed. 'Fine.' He turned back to Ashley. 'You women. Manipulating bunch, you are.'

Ashley grinned. 'It's to keep you all in line.' She told him as they began walking again. The girl hesitated before following them into the blackness of the jungle.


	5. Way Down Deep

**Chapter 5**

**Way Down Deep**

'Oooh,' Ashley cooed, peering into the entrance of the cave. 'It looks like something out of Lord of the Rings or something. I hope Orlando Bloom is skulking around down there somewhere.'

The Doctor glanced to her once, and then behind her to the girl standing a little away, peering tentatively into the cave. 'Do you still want to come?' he asked.

She hesitated, and then nodded and stepped forward. 'Yes.'

'Right then.' The Doctor smiled. 'Let's get moving.'

The three of them moved inside the cave, Ashley sticking close to the Doctor. The girl walked a few steps behind her silently.

'How far do we have to go?' Ashley asked. 'It's creepy in here. I keep on thinking of _The Descent_.'

'Not much further.' The Doctor replied. 'At least I don't think it's much further…'

'Have you ever been down here?' Ashley asked the girl behind her.

'Once.' The girl replied. 'When I was very young. After that I never came back.'

'Why?' Ashley asked.

'Because I heard _them_.'

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder to her. 'Them?' he inquired.

'It was an awful sound. Coming from deep in the centre of the mountain. Scratching… moaning…' The girl visibly shuddered. 'Those noises have haunted me all my life. It's the reason no one comes out here anymore. No one talks about it.'

'Do you know anything about the Warriors from the Sky?' The Doctor asked.

The girl half laughed. 'Of course. Everyone in the village knows that story. The Man With the Changing Face and his woman come from the sky and protect our village. They travelled far and wide battling demons and monsters.' The girl cast her eyes down. 'I… I have to admit I never believed in any of it. But here you both are.'

The Doctor half smiled. 'The Man With the Changing Face. I like it.'

'His _woman_?' Ashley repeated with a grimace.

The Doctor looked to her and shrugged. Behind them, the girl stopped suddenly. Ashley put her hand on the Doctor's back to stop him and they both turned to see what was wrong.

'We're being followed.' The girl said with her head cocked.

'Pants.' Ashley sighed. 'I bet it's Xena.'

The Doctor shone the light back the way they came to see a man standing a little further away, eerily lit up by the light. The Doctor jerked, Ashley shrieked and the girl sighed.

'It's my younger brother.' She told them. She walked up to him and shook her head vigorously, moving her hands in a kind of 'no way' gesture, and then started pointing back to the exit of the cave. The young man looked at her for a moment, then pointed at Ashley and made a low grunting noise.

'What's with the theatricals?' Ashley whispered to the Doctor.

'My brother is deaf.' The girl replied, surprising Ashley.

'Good hearing.' Ashley commented. Off the Doctor's look she blushed. 'I mean… I didn't mean that to sound… um…' She stopped talking and lowered her head.

'He's here now.' The Doctor said. 'We might as well all go on together.'

The girl looked annoyed though. She turned, resting her hands on her hips. 'He's here because he thinks he needs to protect the Deity.'

'Please, just call me Ashley. Seriously. I'm begging you.'

'Can we carry on please? Save the domestics for when we get back to the village. At this rate everyone's going to notice we're gone, that's if everyone doesn't end up down here with us.' The Doctor turned and continued back down the tunnel. Ashley skipped after him quickly, holding onto the back of his coat. The girl gave the young man a quick clip around the back of his head, and then pulled him after them.

* * *

'Holy fudge puppies.' Ashley breathed, looking up at the paintings on the walls.

'I'm with you there.' The Doctor agreed. Even on second viewing the paintings were still as breathtaking and unnerving as they had been the first time around. However his eye kept returning to the crude paintings of the Daleks.

Behind them, the girl and her younger brother were looking up at the wall in awe. They said nothing. Ashley moved towards the wall and ran her fingers over a picture of the Tardis with two figures beside it.

'This is amazing.' She said. 'How could they know about you? About all of this?'

'I have no idea.' The Doctor replied. 'But I've got a feeling the answer will be down there.' He pointed the torch further down the tunnel. Ashley looked down the tunnel dubiously.

'I wouldn't go down there if I were you.' The girl said, shaking her head. 'There's… There's darkness down there.'

'You can go back if you like.' The Doctor told her, uninterested. 'It'll probably be for the best anyway. Or even just wait here. We'll just be a jiffy.'

He started down the tunnel and Ashley grabbed his arm. 'Are you sure we should go down there?' she whispered.

The Doctor looked at her for a moment. 'Don't you want to know why they think you're some kind of God?'

Ashley shrugged. 'I'd like to reign in ignorance.'

The Doctor rolled his eyes. 'Come on.' He told her.

With a sigh she followed him. She glanced back to see the girl and her brother were also following reluctantly. She smiled at them, but they only looked back at her morosely.

* * *

'There's something ahead.' The Doctor said, squinting to see better in the dim light. They had been walking in silence for about five full minutes. The Doctor hadn't spoke because he was obviously in deep thought, Ashley wasn't talking because she had a major case of the heebie-jeebies and the girl and her brother looked like they were being marched towards their deaths. Which could actually be a possibility.

'What is it?' Ashley asked, falling into step beside him. 'It's not like, a sleeping dragon or anything, is it?'

'No.' The Doctor replied. 'It looks… metallic…' He squinted more, then quickened his pace. Ashley had to jog to keep up with him. As they got closer and as the glinting metallic object became clearer, they both slowed to a trot. Their expressions matched, mouths open in disbelief.

'Is that a bloody spaceship?' Ashley cried.

The Doctor stared at the massive hulk of metal, one of the rear engines twice the height of him. 'That would be a 2008 model.'

'2008? But there aren't spaceships in 2008.'

'Not that you know about.'

The girl and her brother stared at the ship in horror and awe. The Doctor handed Ashley the screwdriver without looking at her. 'Hold that for me for a sec, would you?'

Ashley felt numb but she managed to hold the gadget and point it at the wreckage. The Doctor approached the side and ran his hands over the surface of the metal. With various thoughtful _umms_ and _ahhs_, he studied the exterior of the craft, pressing his ear against it, tapping it, rubbing it. The whole while the other three watched him silently. Eventually he stepped back, tapping his chin with his finger.

'Well…' he mumbled.

'Well?' Ashley shrugged.

He glanced to her, like he had forgotten that she was there. He returned to her side, taking the screwdriver from her and shining it all over the ship. 'The ship crashed into the side of the mountain and became embedded here.' He told her. 'My guess is that it's been here for about… a hundred years? Give or take a few? Although that doesn't explain how it _got_ here.'

Ashley looked at him. 'You want to go inside, don't you?'

The Doctor turned and grinned at her. 'Absolutely.'

Ashley sighed heavily. 'Okay. Okay fair enough.'

The Doctor turned around to the girl and her brother. 'Jack and Jill, you might want to wait here.'

'Jack and Jill?' Ashley frowned.

'Well I've got to call them something.' The Doctor replied. 'I'm not just going to say 'oi, you two' am I?'

Ashley shook her head and rolled her eyes, readying herself to say something else when she was interrupted by loud rattling and a shrill, high pitched squeal apparently coming from inside the ship. She hopped behind the Doctor with a wavering yelp. Behind her the young man (or Jack) shoved his sister behind him, apparently just in reaction to the Doctor and Ashley's sudden movement at the sound, despite her slapping of his arms for him to get off. The rattling continued for a few moments, and then it was silent again.

Ashley swallowed hard. 'You still want to go in there, don't you?' she asked.

The Doctor grinned again. 'Oh absolutely.'

* * *

_Obviously I haven't finished this one yet but I'm getting together some ideas for my next 'episodes' :p and I was wondering what kind of locations people prefer; like past/present/future blah blah. Again thanks to everyone reading and reviewing! You're all like, made of cool :D_


	6. Here Be Monsters

**Chapter 6**

**Here Be Monsters**

It was as if the Doctor knew the exact layout of the ship. Well he might have, but Ashley didn't ask him. He immediately circled around the left hand side, finding a square hatch on the underside. Looking at it Ashley was unsure if they would fit, but as the Doctor squeezed beneath it and opened it with a hard shove, she realised that even if he _didn't_ fit through the hatch he was going to get inside. He was frighteningly keen to get in.

'What if there's something in there ready to eat us?' Ashley asked as the Doctor wriggled inside of the hole, his bottom half hanging out comically. 'I mean, I'm not saying I don't trust you or anything but we haven't really known each other for very long and you seem to have this…uh, death wish.'

'It's not a death wish.' The Doctor replied, his voice echoing. 'It's curiosity.'

'The cat.' Ashley reminded him.

The Doctor's legs disappeared inside, followed by shuffling and banging around. Twice he yelled, 'Ow!' Tentatively, Ashley squeezed underneath the hatch, poking her head in. She saw the Doctor's red converse (which she had planned to steal when she got the chance) right in front of her and she had to twist her neck uncomfortably to see his face.

'Nothing that will eat us?' she asked.

The Doctor smiled and shook his head. 'Not yet.'

Ashley managed to crawl through the hole, but not without scraping her arm on a jagged piece of metal. She hissed a curse that gained her a disapproving look from the Doctor. 'Sorry.' She muttered.

The Doctor shone the light on their surroundings. Ashley moved away from the hatch as Jill (hell she might as well use the names too) began to climb in after her. She stood beside the Doctor, prodding and pouting at the cut on her arm.

'There we are.' The Doctor grinned, bounding off to the right. 'Now lets see if we can do anything with this.'

Ashley glanced back to Jill, who was now inside and was helping Jack in through the hatch. Jack seemed to be struggling. He had broader shoulders than any of them. Ashley contemplated helping, but she wanted to know what the Doctor was doing. She moved after him through the gloom to find him standing with the light between his teeth and randomly pulling wires out of what looked like a fuse box.

'You said this had been here for a hundred years.' She said.

'I'm glad you're listening.'

Ashley watched as he plugged in a few wires and removed a few others. 'You really don't think that's going to work do y-' She was cut off as the ship around them hummed gently. A moment later and the lights flickered on. Something beeped. Ashley sighed. 'That's just stupid.'

The Doctor grinned at her, looking absurdly pale in the sudden bright light, and glanced over her shoulder to Jack and Jill. They were standing side by side, still with that horrified bewilderment that seemed to be a permanent look on their faces.

'How did you do that?' Jill demanded. 'How is there light with no fire? How do you make sunlight, Doctor?'

The Doctor smiled. 'Ah it's nothing to do with me. It's hard to explain. You just… just be glad we don't have to trek through the dark anymore.' He headed off down the narrow, metal corridor, dropping the screwdriver into his pocket.

Ashley glanced back at Jill; amused at the way she was looking after the Doctor, and then jogged to catch up with him. 'I think you've pulled.' She grinned, nudging him with her shoulder.

The Doctor glanced to her. 'Excuse me?'

'Jill,' Ashley sniggered. 'She's looking at you like you're Casanova or something. Which you're so not.'

The Doctor looked offended. 'I'll have you know I've been quite popular in the past. More so since I got this mug.' He pointed at himself, then he blinked as if he had just realised what she had said. 'And anyway, what?'

Ashley shook her head, smiling. 'Doesn't matter.'

The Doctor continued to look puzzled but allowed the subject to drop.

'Any theories on how this got here then?' Ashley asked, running her fingers along the smooth metal wall.

'Black hole, perhaps.' The Doctor replied. 'It doesn't happen very often, but there's been a few times I've had to go and sort out someone else's mess. Most of the time I get it sorted okay, but there's been a few occasions where it just kind of… well… comes part of history.'

'How do you mean?'

'You've heard of Roswell? That was a delivery ship from 2294. Got sucked into a time rift and got spat out over the Nevada desert. I think the bloke who had been flying it went to live in New York… I spoke to him once but apparently it was a touchy subject.'

Ashley gaped at him. 'You're kidding me.'

He glanced to her and shook his head. 'Nope.' Then he chuckled. 'But you should have seen those scientists pouring all their time and devotion into studying what was practically a tea towel.'

'And they had no idea where it had come from?'

'Nope. They still think it's from the far corners of the universe or something. Pretty funny really. If they had looked hard enough they would have found the _constructed in Brighton_ stamp on the bottom.' Before Ashley had a chance to ask any more questions he pointed ahead. 'I think that's where we want to be.'

Ashley followed his finger. 'It says 'keep out' in massive red letters.' She pointed out. 'Might that not be for a reason?'

'You're honestly telling me you never go through doors just because they say keep out? Where's the fun in that?' He pulled ahead - keen to explore.

'And you say you don't have a death wish.' Ashley mumbled.

* * *

The Doctor was disappointed with what turned out to be on the other side of the door. Just a storage area. He supposed he would have to go through it all to help figure out just what this ship had been doing at some point, but he wanted to find the thing that had been making all the noise.

Behind him Ashley was peering inside one of the storage lockers. He understood her dubiousness of exploring – all his previous companions had been nervous in the beginning. And fair enough she might not be as intelligent and resourceful as his previous companions but…

_Why am I thinking of her as a companion? I'm taking her back home as soon as we figure out what's going on here_.

He felt a little dismayed by that thought, but he didn't hang on to it long enough for it to affect him completely. There wasn't time to think about it anyway, they had more important things to be getting on with.

'Hey, Doctor.'

He felt a tug on his coat and he turned around to Ashley. She was standing with a huge black gasmask on her face, her bright red hair sticking out of the top of it, making her look like some surreal, absurd anime character. She breathed deeply and said 'Don't underestimate the power of the dark side.'

The Doctor looked at her for a moment in silence. Ashley pulled the mask off and shrugged her shoulders.

'I couldn't resist.' She told him, placing the mask back on the shelf. 'Why would they have gas masks anyway?'

'No idea.' The Doctor replied. 'But it definitely means that they're not delivering tea towels…' He trailed off, looking back to the door they had just entered through. 'Um, where's Jack and Jill?'

Ashley glanced around. 'They were right behind me.' She replied.

They went back into the corridor and looked around. It split off in two ways, the way they had come and to the left of them. There was no sign of Jack or Jill down either of them.

'Maybe they just decided to fetch some water.' Ashley offered.

The Doctor started to agree with her when an inhuman bellow took them by surprise. Almost simultaneously, there was screaming. The Doctor started running down the corridor without hesitation.

'This is why I don't take groups!' he cried as he ran. 'More than one person and people start wandering off and getting themselves killed!'

They ran straight down the corridor, turning at the end just for the Doctor to slam right into Jill, who was running in the opposite direction to them. Her eyes were wide with terror and she was pointing back the way she had come.

'Monsters!' she screamed. 'There are monsters!'

The Doctor continued past her. Ashley slowed to a jog. 'Monsters are generally bad things, Doctor!' she called after him. 'You sure you're not going to get us killed?'

'I find your lack of faith disturbing.' He called back to her.

Ashley grinned and picked up the pace again. 'I knew it! I knew you would be a Star Wars fan!'

The Doctor entered the open doorway and saw Jack in the centre of the room, staring straight ahead. He looked up to see what the deaf boy was looking at, and his jaw dropped.

Inside a wrought iron cage, the horse sized, arachnid creature moved slowly, examining these new arrivals with every one of its eight eyes. It's pointed feet clicked on the metal floor as it paced. It hissed, curling back black flaps of skin that covered its mouth and revealing rows of tiny sharp teeth.

'Oh my god…' Ashley muttered. 'What is that thing?'

The Doctor ignored her question, taking a step forward. 'I think I know what has happened here.' He said in a low voice. 'This is a cargo ship, alright, but not the kind of cargo ship you would expect.'

Ashley said nothing. She stared up at the creature, the colour drained from her face.

'This is a bounty ship.'

Ashley swallowed hard. 'You mean like… bounty hunters? Like Dog the Bounty Hunter?'

The Doctor nodded morosely. 'And I think the villagers know all about us because they've been in this ship and seen the records.' He turned to Ashley with a grim expression. 'And I think we're on the records because we're being hunted.'

* * *

_I'm assuming no one minds that I update so quickly lol :p I'm just posting it as it's written so I don't accidently delete it (which I do often because i'm a bit of a tard :P) Again, you're all freakin' awesome for reading :D Although I was a tad distracted while writing this chapter so apologies if it sucks major cheese :p_


	7. Breakdown

**Chapter 7**

**Breakdown**

The Doctor had wanted to inspect. Jill wanted to go back to the village. Ashley wasn't sure _what _she wanted. She had been rooted to the spot, staring at the creature prowling behind its barred prison. She couldn't comprehend it. Her brain wouldn't accept its being there. The Doctor said the ship had been here for a hundred years. Had this thing been here for a hundred years? Been locked in a prison for a hundred years? How was that possible?

But then again, how was a horse-sized spider possible?

The Doctor was raking around, muttering to himself about diaries and notebooks, but Ashley wasn't listening. Jill was still in the doorway, insisting that they should go back, but showing no sign of leaving without them. And Jack was…

'Where's Jack?' Ashley asked, snapping out of her daze.

'Mmm?' The Doctor glanced to her briefly. 'Oh… I don't know.' He turned back to the book he was flicking through.

Ashley frowned at the Doctor's dismissal, but she was still a little dazed to pick him up about it. Instead, she decided to look for Jack. Jill probably would have looked for him herself, but she wouldn't step foot in the room. Which was perfectly understandable.

'Jack?' she called as she moved behind two high rows of what looked like filing cabinets. She rolled her eyes at her stupidity. 'He's deaf, you idiot.' She mumbled, and continued on. As she passed between the cabinets, she fancied she could hear very faint scratching and scuttling from inside. Either she didn't want to imagine what it could be or she really just thought it was her imagination because she ignored it. However she didn't ignore the louder shuffling further ahead.

Sure enough, she caught sight of Jack's smooth, tanned skin and wondered how to approach. With his back to her he wouldn't see her, and she didn't want to scare him. There wasn't any other way she could think to get his attention, so she moved towards him. He whirled around before she got a chance to touch his shoulder, giving her a shock instead of the other way around.

'Bloody hell,' she breathed. 'Everyone's so jumpy.' She shrugged. 'Well I guess with a giant spider clunking around in a spaceship from the future it's kind of expected, eh?'

Jack only looked at her blankly, so she smiled and pointed back over her shoulder. 'Your sister is waiting for you I think.' She told him, not knowing if he understood her or not.

He seemed to understand and he nodded. Ashley stepped aside as he walked past her and glanced back to where he had been. One of the metal drawers was open slightly. She looked at it for a moment, but dismissed it.

* * *

'Don't you think we should head back?' Ashley asked, eyeing the huge spider that was now lying in the corner of its cage, apparently sleeping. 'Something tells me Xena won't be too pleased when she realises we're not there.'

The Doctor was sitting cross-legged on the floor, papers laid out all around him, black-rimmed glasses resting low on his nose. He grunted in response but made no effort to move, or even look up from the piece of paper he was examining. Irritated, Ashley snatched it away from him.

'Don't grunt at me.' She frowned. 'It's rude.'

'Hey! I was reading that!'

'You've been reading for the past hour.' Ashley snapped. 'And you haven't elaborated on anything in the process. Jack and Jill are scared and they want to go back to the village. I'm freaking tired. You can bring these back to the village and read them where there's _not_ a giant, hungry looking spider watching us.'

The Doctor looked at her incredulously. He glanced towards Jack and Jill, who were sitting outside the doorway together. He looked back to Ashley, took in her annoyance, and then nodded.

'You're right. Sorry, I just got caught up in all of this.' He scooped up the papers and assembled them into a messy pile. 'It's just… this is _amazing_.'

'What is it exactly?' Ashley asked, peered at the paper she had swiped from him. Across the top it read; _Slitheen/Houses of Parliament/2005_.

'Some very in depth reports on my whereabouts and doings over the past few years,' the Doctor replied, snatching the paper back with her with a cheeky grin. '_Very_ in depth, actually.' He scanned the paper briefly before putting in back on top of the pile. 'I suppose you can help me go through it when we get back.'

Ashley stood with him. 'But if everything is down on paper, that still doesn't explain how the people who did those paintings know all about you. I really doubt they could read.'

The Doctor nodded in agreement. 'I know I've been thinking about that…' He glanced around. 'I suppose we could come back.'

Ashley nodded. Jack and Jill were looking to them expectantly. 'As long as we don't have to come back into this room,' she said, watching the creature in the cage as she moved towards the door. 'That thing is… _whoa_!' Her foot caught a stray wire and she stumbled forwards, arms splayed out, and crashed ungracefully into a nearby control panel. She straightened up, blushing.

'I'm okay.' she mumbled.

The Doctor moved towards her quickly, his eyebrows knitted together. For a moment she thought he had come to check if she was okay, but she was slightly disappointed when he moved her gently aside. 'Well, well, well,' he mused. 'What do we have here?'

He leaned down towards a flickering red light. Ashley joined his side and peered at it also. They looked at each other and without a word; the Doctor pushed the red button beside it. Immediately, a pinkish light blinded them and they stumbled backwards in alarm. Jill let out a shrill squeal. Dazed, the Doctor and Ashley looked up at what was causing the pink light.

'You're a liar.' Ashley said, looking at the holographic image that flickered and buzzed in the centre of the room. 'There's _no way_ this thing was built in 2008.'

The Doctor pushed his glasses up his nose and moved forward to inspect the image. It was of a dark haired woman, slim face, pretty eyes. The feed was apparently stuck on a loop. All she did was blink, open her mouth, and then it started again. 'Might be a 2010 model.' He mused. He returned to the control panel. 'Well I'm guessing this is how they found out about us. Surveillance records.'

By now, Ashley was more than confused. She crossed her arms over her chest. 'But… How would they know to turn it on? There was no power when we got in here. I'm sorry Doctor, but it seems to me like we've taken a wrong turn at Crazy Avenue.'

The Doctor pressed the screwdriver against the control panel and watched the hologram image as the gadget whirred. The image began to fast forward. The woman in the image chattered for a while (in full speed) and it changed. The Doctor pulled the screwdriver away from the control panel and slipped it away. Still with a creased forehead, Ashley looked at the image.

At first it seemed like nothing special, apparently just an alley of some sort. After a moment it dawned on Ashley that it was _her_ back alley. 'Hey!' she started, but seemed to have nothing else to say.

Then two figures ran into view. Even with their pink hue it was obvious who they were. The Doctor was pulling her up the alley, both of them looking worriedly over their shoulders. Their mouths were moving, but there was no sound. With the pink hue, Ashley's hair was a deep, blood red. The Tardis came into view and they disappeared inside. Ashley remembered that well; it had been that first night she had met the Doctor. The night that she half wished she could go back to, with no memory of the madness that had followed.

The Tardis vanished. The woman with the dark hair returned.

'I wonder what she's saying.' The Doctor wondered aloud. 'If I can get the audio back on…'

'Someone recorded us that night?' Ashley asked, now getting a headache. 'Surely we would have noticed!'

'You'd be surprised the things that you miss.'

Ashley decided she didn't like this brooding, pondering side of him. She wanted to leave. The giant spider was moving around again, hissing. She was curious too to how the ancestors of the villagers came about the information for those cave paintings, but right now she needed a minute to process everything that happened between landing in the middle of the jungle in the Tardis and ending up here, now, in a space ship from the future watching surveillance footage of herself and the Doctor doing things that hadn't been done yet in this time… but would have been done about the time of the ship…

Ashley's hands shot to her forehead and she grimaced.

'You're thinking too hard about it again.' The Doctor told her, not looking up from the control panel. 'I told you not to.'

Without a word, Ashley moved past him towards the door, hands still on her head. She pushed – quite rudely – past Jack and Jill and quickly headed towards the exit. Without hesitation, they followed her.

'Ashley!' the Doctor called after her. 'Wait! Hey!'

Ashley didn't listen. She continued to walk, her pace quickening. She heard the Doctor gathering up the papers and then his feet drumming on the floor to catch up with her. Without really knowing why, she began to run also.

The Doctor caught up with her outside of the storage room, grabbing her arm and causing her to stop. 'What is it?' he demanded, more confused than concerned or angry. 'Why are you running?'

There was a huge lump in her throat. 'Remember that breakdown I was telling you about?' she cried, voice shrill enough to make the Doctor flinch. 'It's here. Doctor I can't do this! You might be used to it because judging by all that stuff on the wall you do it daily, but I work in a pub! I roll barrels around and give people alcohol! I watch cheesy sci-fi movies in my spare time and some people I know like to sit around until three in the morning discussing the possibility of life on other planets and in the space of about twenty-four hours I've been trapped in a government building on a _moon_ orbiting a New Earth where I met a suicidal alien, I got snatched by some insane guy who can move things with his mind because he wants my brain because _I _can make people cry just by thinking about Watership Down and I got shot and then we're suddenly thousands of years in the past where I'm apparently some God and there's a spaceship in the mountain and there's a big scary spider and people have been watching us and…' She wheezed. Her chest hitched. She made a high-pitched _Ergh_ sound.

The Doctor took her shoulders and lowered his face to hers. He looked at her with those serious brown eyes, eyes that held more years and wisdom than the young face where they were situated. He said one thing. 'Breathe.'

Ashley took in a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. She shuddered, and then sighed. The lump in her throat subsided a little. She was shaking all over.

'You're exhausted.' The Doctor told her. 'We'll go back to the village and you can sleep. But we'll have to come back here.'

Ashley nodded. 'Yeah. Okay.'

The Doctor put an arm around her shoulders and led her towards the hatch where they had gotten inside. Jill followed. Jack hesitated, readjusting the sash around his waist. He tucked the plastic, cylindrical object he had taken from the room with the monster, and then followed the others.

* * *

_Again this kind of struck me as a rambling chapter, so apologies to anyone who got a bit bored... but it's just to move the story along a bit. I know it might not seem like it, but I do know what i'm doing :p Or at least I hope that I do lol! _


	8. Consequences of Curiosity

**Chapter 8**

**Consequences of Curiosity**

Jill pointed out that they had about two hours before the first of the villagers would be awake, so they managed to successfully return to the large tent without their absence being noted. Jack disappeared almost immediately, but Jill followed the Doctor and Ashley to the tent, full of questions.

'Are you going to go back to destroy that monster?' she asked the Doctor, her voice hushed as if it was a taboo subject.

'Destroy it?' the Doctor asked, confused. 'Why would I do that?'

'It's a _monster_.' Jill replied, stricken. 'What if it escapes?'

'It's been locked in there for over about a hundred years. Don't you think if it could escape it would have done so by now?' The Doctor sat on the high backed chair and crossed his legs. 'I'm not sure what it is to be honest with you. I've seen things _similar_… but it's different.' He waved the papers in his hand. 'If it doesn't say anything about it in here I'll have to have a better look when we go back.'

Ashley flopped down on a pile of stuffed animal skins in the corner. 'Well I think I'm going to have to shut down a while to get my head around this all if you don't…' She yawned loudly. '…mind…' A moment later her eyes were closed and she was sleeping.

The Doctor smiled at her, and then looked to Jill. 'I don't think it would be a good idea to tell anyone about what you saw. They might not be as… rational as you were.'

Jill half frowned. 'That thing in there may pose a threat to my people.'

'Trust me, if you tell them about it you'll put them in direct danger. It's safer to leave it where it is.'

Jill looked sceptical, but she didn't argue with him. She remained where she was for a moment, watching him look over the papers covered in markings she didn't understand. 'You're a magnificent man, Doctor.' She said suddenly. 'You would provide gifted offspring.'

The Doctor looked up at her sharply, eyebrows shooting up. 'I uh… well I…' He paused, completely taken off guard. 'Um… thank you?'

Jill studied him a moment longer, and then half bowed her head. 'Goodnight, Doctor.' She turned and left the tent.

The Doctor watched after her, bewildered. Shaking his head, he looked back down to his paper. 'A bit forward.' He mumbled, and then returned his full attention to the papers.

* * *

Ashley had an unsettling dream about having her head stuck in a gas mask while tiny spiders ran up her legs and arms. It should have been frightening really, but it wasn't. It was just… unnerving. She woke up with a shudder.

'Morning, Sleeping Beauty.' The Doctor said, not looking up from the high-backed chair. He sat in the same position as he had been when she had fallen asleep, still looking through the papers. 'Although I think Sleeping Beauty is a bit too nice. You snore like a hippo with a blocked nose.'

Ashley frowned as she sat up. 'I don't snore.' She said defensively. She rubbed her eyes and glanced around. 'Did no one come and check on us?'

'Well a couple of people popped up a while ago but they saw you asleep and kind of ran out again. One of them said you didn't like being woken up.'

Ashley frowned, then remembered the boy she had yelled at for throwing water on her. 'That's because they wake people up in stupid ways.' She flattened down her hair that was sticking up on one side and stretched. 'Did you get through your autobiography then?'

'I did actually.' The Doctor replied. 'It doesn't say anywhere who wrote this, or who it was who gathered the information, but it's pretty spot on.' He folded the papers and turned to her, removing his glasses. 'For the past two years I've been getting followed around and I didn't even notice. Amazing. Or creepy. I haven't decided.'

'How could they have been following you anyway? I thought you had a time machine. Were they following you through time?'

'No nothing goes past the year 2013, which I've decided was the time the ship went through a time rift, or whatever.'

'So… can you explain why I have my own section on the walls even though I apparently only have a five second cameo in a hologram film?'

The Doctor glanced at her, a strange look in his eyes. 'No.' he replied.

Ashley narrowed her eyes at him. 'Is that a no you can't, or a no you won't?'

He stood without looking at her. 'I think it's about time I paid the chief a quick visit. I'd like to know what he thinks about all this.'

Ashley allowed him to leave without asking any more questions. He wasn't telling her everything. There was something in those papers that concerned her, and he wasn't telling her. But she wasn't going to push him for the answers. He would tell her in his own time.

She lay back down and decided to have another half hour doze.

* * *

It had been painful to read through those papers. More so because the majority of them mentioned a lot about Rose. In fact there was a detailed section about her disappearance. Whoever wrote the report suggested that, while records have her as deceased, they might have evidence that she is alive and well. The Doctor wondered what kind of evidence that was.

He wondered even more just who these people were.

Caught up in his wondering, he walked straight into someone. He stumbled back, hands raised, to see Jack looking at him with narrowed eyes.

'Sorry, didn't see you there.' He smiled, even though he knew Jack couldn't hear him. To the Doctor, Jack looked a little twitchy. He ran off quickly. The Doctor watched him go.

Normally, he probably would have suspected something wrong, but his mind was elsewhere. He carried on to look for the chief.

* * *

Jack scampered away from the man with the strange clothes, terrified that he might have figured out what he had done. He hadn't even shared with his sister what he had done, because he knew that she would tell the others. He knew what he had done was wrong, but the Deity had startled him and he had acted without thinking. Once he had the object, he dared not return to where he had found it to put it back.

So he kept it.

He ducked into his shelter, eyes wide and alert for his parents or his siblings. Being unable to hear, he depended solely on his sight. If a regular hearing person could see through his eyes, they would be surprised by their accuracy. Jack could see everything. It was the only reason he was allowed to go hunting with the others – he could see things they couldn't.

He sat in the corner on the pile of soft animal skins that he slept on, and pulled the object from beneath his sash. He rolled it over in his hands. If he had seen a tube before, that would be what he had called it, but he had seen nothing this round and smooth before, except some of the sticks they gathered for firewood or to made weapons or tools. It was a light grey and shiny. It was cool to the touch. He held it tightly, feeling small vibrations on it. Something was moving around inside.

Jack had always been a curious boy. Anyone else – especially after seeing the creature in the cave – would probably do the sensible thing and show someone else. But Jack was enchanted by the object. He pushed his thumb beneath the clasp at the top. He hesitated, and flipped the clasp. With a _hiss_ that he didn't hear, the lid slowly opened. Jack slowly peered inside.

The creature was quick. It was on his face before he had even registered what was inside. He didn't even have a chance to scream before he felt searing hot pain in his eyes, but eventually he did scream.

And oh how he screamed.


	9. Selfish Choices

**Chapter 9**

**Selfish Choices**

The Doctor had just received directions to the chief's hut when a blood-curling scream rang out through the village. Instinctively, he raced back the way he had come hoping beyond hope that the scream had absolutely nothing to do with their trip into the cave the night before.

Although he should have known better to even bother wishing.

Someone else screamed – a woman. The Doctor reached the crowd just as someone yelled; '_It ran into the jungle!_'

Whatever they were talking about would have to wait a moment. The Doctor pushed through the growing crowd and into the shelter where the wails were intensifying. He saw a large, soft-armed woman cradling someone in her arms and wailing with raw grief. The Doctor approached. He gritted his teeth when he recognised the moaning person in the woman's arms.

'Jack…' he mumbled. 'I'm sorry.'

The woman's hands covered his eyes. The Doctor squatted beside her and tentatively reached out. He moved her heavy hand from his eyes – only those dark eyes that had previously been there were gone. Two hollow back holes stared at the Doctor.

The Doctor looked to the right, spotting the empty, cylindrical tube lying on the ground. He frowned deeply. Without a word, he scooped it up, and pushed his way back outside.

* * *

Ashley managed to fall off the pile of animal skins at the horrifying scream that split the air. She landed hard on her shoulder; the shoulder she had been _shot_ in, and cried out in pain. With a grimace, she got to her feet and ran outside, still groggy from sleep. As soon as she emerged in the bright sunlight, she saw the Doctor stalking towards her with a look on his face that she had yet to see.

He looked angry. No, not angry – _furious_.

'What was that?' she asked as he reached her. She saw the tube in his hand and frowned. 'What is that?'

'Did you see him take it?' the Doctor demanded.

Ashley was taken aback. 'Excuse me?'

'I asked you if you saw Jack take this.' He shook the metal cylinder. '_Did you_?'

Ashley was too shocked at his unabridged anger to have a comprehensible feeling about it. She blinked. 'No.' she replied. 'I… I found him amongst a load of metal drawers and I guessed he was just snooping around…'

The Doctor rubbed his face and ran his fingers through his hair. He turned and looked towards the increasingly mournful crowd. 'We're in trouble. We're in _big_ trouble.'

'What happened?' Ashley started forward towards the crowd, but the Doctor grabbed her arm and shook his head.

'You don't need to see that.'

'What happened, Doctor?'

The Doctor leaned close to her and she could see he was pale. 'I didn't know what that thing was because I've never seen one grow to such a size before. I never knew they _could_ grow such a size. But then again it's rare they live for so long. They're a bit cannibalistic and on their home planet there's larger predators and they're not exactly the worst creatures living there so remind me never to land there by mistake because-'

'You're rambling.' Ashley told him flatly.

The Doctor swallowed. 'Arakreuz.' He told her. 'I thought they were extinct. Well, they vanish completely in about 2010. Every single one. A whole race vanishing over night. No one ever figured out what happened to them. I guess they were picked up by whoever was flying that ship. But that still makes no sense. Why would someone capture the Arakreuz? Why would someone _want_ to?'

Ashley frowned. 'Are you saying that crew rounded up every single once and stored them away on their ship because getting sucked into a black hole and spat out here?' She mulled it over for a moment. 'But only one of them have got out, right? Tell me there was only one in that tube thing.'

'There was only one, but it doesn't matter.' The Doctor told her. 'These things reproduce without all that _needing a mate_ carry on. If that Arakreu lays its eggs, within hours there'll be hundreds of them. A few days later and those hundreds will lay hundreds, until before you know it there are _millions_. With nothing to control their numbers they'll just keep laying and laying. They'll wipe out every living thing.'

Ashley looked stricken. 'But if they kill everything, then what about future-people?'

The Doctor just looked at her.

'We've got to find it.' Ashley told him. 'We've got to find it before it lays any eggs. What does it look like?'

'The same as the one in the ship.'

'Are horse sized spider won't be that hard to find.'

'These ones are about the size of hamsters.'

'Oh.'

The Doctor looked towards the crowd. The women and children were crying and mourning. The men were shouting and ordering each other about. It didn't take a genius to decide that they were starting a hunt.

'I need to go back to the ship.' The Doctor said suddenly.

Ashley looked at him. 'Do you think it will have gone back there?'

He looked back at her, a cloudy look in his eyes. 'When they realise that it came from the ship, they're going to run in with their spears and their fire and destroy every single thing in there. If we want to know who has been watching us and _why_ they have been watching us, we need to go back now.'

'Are you _serious_?' Ashley cried. 'Doctor, I think this is a little more important right now-'

'There's nothing we can do more than what they can.' The Doctor told her. 'They can handle this.'

'No way. We're the ones who screwed up here. We shouldn't have let Jack or Jill come with us at all.'

The Doctor grabbed Ashley quite suddenly. 'I _need_ to know who they are.' He told her.

Ashley frowned and then pulled out of his grip. 'Well you go then. I'm staying here.'

'I'm not abandoning them.' The Doctor insisted. 'I'm coming back.'

'Whatever.' Ashley frowned, already heading away.

The Doctor watched after her, torn. They needed to find the escaped Arakreu, but at the same time he needed to know who had ordered the crew on that ship to gather information on him. He had a lot of enemies, but it was rare if any of them went to _this_ much trouble.

He had to find out. He knew it was important.

Feeling sick to his stomach that he was actually doing it, the Doctor ran to the mountain.

* * *

Ashley pushed her way through the crowd and entered the tent. Her stomach churned at the sight of Jack being cradled in the big woman's arms, black holes where his eyes should be. She was horrified at the thought of what he must be going through. No sound, no sight.

She had to go back outside. Immediately, someone seized her.

'What do we do?' Jill cried in her face.

Ashley blinked at her. She glanced around to realise that the crowd had fallen into a hushed silence and they were looking at her expectantly. _Oh they can't be for real…_ she thought miserably.

'I uh… I don't know.'

'What do you mean you don't know?' a man roared. 'You're the Deity! You're here to protect us!'

Ashley felt very apprehensive. She wished the Doctor had stayed. But he hadn't, and she had to deal with this alone. She swallowed hard. 'Did anyone see where it went?'

'It ran into the jungle.' Someone answered.

'Any idea which direction?'

The same person pointed. Ashley looked after the finger and narrowed her eyes. The jungle looked wild and thick. It was going to be like looking for someone under the age of thirty at a Barry Manilow concert. She swallowed hard, finding her throat dry.

'Then we head that way.' She found herself saying.

* * *

The Doctor was glad he had a good head for direction or else he probably would have gotten lost on his way to the cave. He had left the power running on the ship and it glowed eerily at the end of the tunnel, gleaming like some giant wedged firefly. He clambered inside without any hesitation.

The overgrown Arakreu moved quickly in its prison, its feet clicking noisily on the ground. It hissed at him, teeth bared. The Doctor shot an impatient look at it.

'Yeah, yeah,' he muttered, approaching the console that the hologram image had originated from. 'Right back at you.'

He turned it on again, watching the silent woman speak. He spent a few moments trying to reconfigure it to get the audio to work. Just as he thought it was completely futile, a voice interrupted the gentle hum of the ship and the quiet hissing of the creature.

'_-imately 3.13am when they disappeared. We picked up traces in Westminster, but upon arrival there was no sign. Following direct orders we are proceeding to search for any residual time energy that could point to the whereabouts of the Doctor or the target. End of report.' _

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at the image of the dark haired woman. 'Who gave you those orders?' he mumbled.

The woman's face vanished momentarily, then reappeared, looking a little different. The Doctor listened intently as she spoke again.

'_This is Kathryn Golder on day sixty. It seems we were sucked into some kind of black hole and we've ended up… Hell I have no idea where we are. There are…um… But there are natives here. They've treated us well so far, but I'm starting to figure that we're not going to be able to get out of here. The ship is running but the engines are busted. Marv was killed on impact.'_ She paused, blinked, swallowed. '_Carter is okay. I suppose this is the end of our mission. We didn't find her. I'm sorry Mister Crowe.'_

The hologram flicked off. The Doctor stared at where it had been, tapping his chin.


	10. Take the Blame

**Chapter 10**

**Take The Blame**

_I'm in charge of a bloody pack_, Ashley thought worriedly, looking around at the thirty-plus people who were waiting for her orders. _How the hell does this happen?_

Jill was nearby, a long thick pole with a sharpened end held tightly in her hands. They had tried to give Ashley one, but she wouldn't have known what to do with it. She just hoped that, if the time called for it, she could just stomp on the spider thing before it had a chance to jump on her face.

'What do you want us to do?' Jill asked her.

Ashley didn't have a clue. Besides just wandering around aimlessly looking for a spider… she didn't have a clue. 'Maybe we should split up.' She shrugged. 'Into groups of five.'

They all looked at her blankly.

'Right…' Ashley sighed. 'Counting. Haven't got to that yet, have you? Okay… just get into small groups. Just keep your eyes peeled for anything small and spider-like, okay?' She hoped what she said wasn't distasteful, but no one picked up on it. She pointed at four of them at random, including Jill. 'You lot come with me.'

The four of them quickly joined her side. The rest of them sectioned off and headed in different directions. Ashley looked around at her own group, taking in their faces. She nodded to them all.

'Let's get going then.' she sighed, but she was thinking, _I'm going to get these people killed._

* * *

They had been searching for about twenty minutes. The men in the group were becoming restless and twitchy, but they didn't speak. Jill walked alongside Ashley, her icy eyes scanning every possible hiding place. For the millionth time since leaving the village, Ashley wondered what the hell she was doing. There was no way they were going to find this thing. They needed the Doctor. _She_ needed the Doctor.

'Where is the Doctor?' Jill asked almost as if she had been reading her thoughts.

Ashley looked to her in bewilderment. 'He um… He's looking somewhere… else.' She lied. She didn't want to tell them that he had gone back to the ship. Not sure why she didn't want to tell them though.

Jill nodded. 'Have you mated yet?'

Ashley looked to her, instantly flushing red. 'Excuse me?'

Jill looked at her curiously. 'He would provide good children. As would you.'

Ashley gawped at her. 'Wha… No! Of course I haven't!' She turned away, highly embarrassed. 'For starters I haven't really known him that long and… and he's too skinny.'

Jill continued to look at her. 'I'm sorry if I offended you…'

'Yeah well I'd appreciate if you didn't bring that up again,' Ashley replied. 'It's not a subject I'd particularly want to think about let alone talk about.'

Jill nodded, but she still looked thoughtful. She opened her mouth to say something else but Ashley held a finger up to her lips.

'I know what you're going to ask,' Ashley said quickly. 'And keep the nookie talk for later, okay? I don't think this is the time.'

Jill frowned faintly, but nodded obediently.

Ashley glanced to her with a faint frown. 'Shouldn't you be more concerned about your brother anyway?'

'These things happen.' Jill replied simply.

'Well I don't think I've seen _that_ happen to anybody I know.' Ashley mumbled.

Jill stopped and turned to Ashley, resting one hand on her hip. 'I know you're implying that I don't care for my brother. I love my brother. But I have already lost five siblings. I can control my grief.'

Ashley immediately felt guilty. She looked away. 'I didn't mean…'

'What was that?'

Ashley and Jill looked around to the man who had spoken. He was hunched, staring forward into the surrounding foliage. Everyone followed his gaze. At first, Ashley couldn't see anything, but then she saw three thick, black legs creeping over the top of a rock. Jill started forward. Ashley stuck her arm in front of her.

'Watch it.' she warned. 'You've seen what it can do.'

Jill nodded. She approached slowly, as did the rest of them. Before they were close enough to strike, the creature whipped away into the bushes with a hiss. They raced after it.

Ashley cursed as tree branches nicked her skin. The others sprinted almost silently, but Ashley bumbled and stumbled like a drunk. If she had been on her own, she would have lost that thing straight away. But she hadn't been alone, thank god. She followed them into a clearing. They were standing around, scanning the area.

'Where did it go?' Ashley asked, practically wheezing for breath.

'In there.' Jill replied, pointing at an opening in the side of a rocky crevasse. The others approached it. Ashley wiped the sweat from her forehead.

'Great.' She muttered. 'More dark caves.'

* * *

The Doctor had watched five more feeds. Most of them were of him. By now he understood perfectly well where the cave paintings had come from. Shortly after the ship had crashed, the villagers had come down to explore. Finding the two survivors, they proceeded to explore the ship. They must have found a way to turn on the feeds. They probably didn't understand a word that was spoken, but they saw enough for it to be their mythical story to be passed on for a few generations.

Although he found nothing on Ashley.

And there was no more mention of Crowe.

The Doctor scowled at the thought of Crowe. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of him in the first place. He had probably anticipated that the Doctor would go looking for her. He had followed the Doctor because he _knew_ that eventually he would lead him straight to her. If he had just left her alone, perhaps he wouldn't have had to take her out of her home at all.

Perhaps all this would never have happened.

Not for the first time in his life, the Doctor came to believe that this was his fault.

With a grimace, he shut off the feed. He felt sick with himself to think that he had came here to watch these feeds instead of go and help search for the creature that could quite easily mark the end of civilisation before it had even properly began. He was just heading towards the door when another feed came on automatically. He turned. His eyebrows rose.

Now he knew why they referred to her as the Deity.

* * *

The cave was dim, but not completely pitch black. A few meters in and they could still see well enough to continue on. Jill led the way. Ashley found herself envious of her bravery. But then again, the girl probably ran about hunting animals, whereas Ashley found it a task walking around to the corner shop to buy herself a Cornetto.

It was amazing to see just how lazy the human race had become.

Something scuttled between her legs and she whimpered. Jill looked around, wide-eyed. The three men stood ready to attack, their spears out in front of them.

_Next time, just stomp_, Ashley told herself. _You stomp on it as hard as you can. You're wearing Doc Martins. You stomp it good._

However, when it scuttled past her again, she only yelped. Jill turned around, frowning. She put a finger to her mouth. Ashley nodded and was about to apologise, but all the air caught in her throat. She noticed something on the walls that made her heart speed up.

'We're too late.' She mumbled.

The others looked around, stricken. The walls were covered in a thin, filmy grey membrane. Small, rodent sized spiders were crawling out of it, scuttling up the walls and ceiling. Their eyes now adjusting to the dimness, it became clear that there were dozens of them.

'How is that possible…?' Jill muttered. 'So quickly…'

Ashley looked ahead, her eyes widening so much that she thought her eyes would just fall out. Even though that was a pretty inappropriate description. In the blackness ahead, eight shiny eyes gleamed. The creature stepped out of the shadows, flaps of skin curling back and baring sharp white teeth. The ends of its heavy legs clicked on the stone floor.

The Doctor had been wrong. Ashley had never seen a ten-foot tall hamster before.

The creature sprang forward. Ashley saw it rushing towards her, the hissing sound ear piercing. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for the impact.

* * *

_A lot of updates today - I hope I didn't get on anyones nerves lol! About three chapters left of this one, I hope you're all still enjoying :D And again, for the zillionth time, thanks for reading :p_


	11. Floating Embers

**Chapter 11**

**Floating Embers**

The Doctor stared up at the holographic image of the girl he was currently sharing the Tardis with. To anyone who wasn't used to this kind of technology, she _would_ look like something that had hopped right out of any mainstream religious text.

It was obvious constructed from various different images of her as it had a kind of blocky look about it. It was about five foot tall from the ground, only a few inches shorter than what Ashley was in real life. It rotated slowly, glowing softly. To anyone who didn't know any better, they would think it was a real person.

The Doctor moved to the console and reconfigured the audio. A female voice crackled through the speakers. He turned his attention to the image, narrowing his eyes and listening hard.

'-_ential parts of the brain are the frontal lobes, although it is mandatory that none of the brain is damaged. Various methods are advised to restrain, but take care never to attempt a sole capture. The subject is extremely volatile due to lack of experience in using the abilities. The human side may cause you to sympathise, but doing so will only cause you to drop your guard. As already stated, the subject is extremely volatile. A full-breed Telkaline is capable of extraordinary things. As this subject is a cross of Telkaline and Human, it is unknown what exactly it is capable of, hence our urgency of having it captured…'_

The Doctor stopped listening. His jaw dropped.

'No way…' he muttered. 'No way. That is impossible!'

He launched himself towards the filing cabinets where he had found the papers with his own details on. He hadn't found anything on Ashley because he had been looking for her name. He didn't find anything with her name on because they didn't have her _listed_ under Ashley Chambers.

He pulled out the file he had skimmed past earlier entitled _CB TELK/HUM_. He flipped it open, both his hearts racing. In the cell, the Arakreu paced and hissed noisily.

'Oh shush you!' the Doctor snapped at it, flicking quickly through the file. He found the page he had been looking for and read through it. 'Oh god…' he mumbled. 'Oh no…'

He snatched the page, which had a small passport sized photo attached to it, out of the file and stuffed it in his pocket.

He had to find her before she did something terrible.

* * *

The creature lowered to the ground and then sprang up with a vicious _hiss_. Ashley closed her eyes tightly and raised her hands, too terrified to scream and make any sort of sound at all. She wasn't going to get out of this one. She was dead.

She supposed, as she shielded her eyes awaiting impact, that it could be a lot worse. She could have wandered out into the street and got hit by a half-blind pensioner in a Reliant Robin. At least this had a bit excitement about it. But still, there were things she had wanted to do. Hell, she hadn't even learned how to ride a bike! At least she had seen some impossible things. It wasn't all bad –

Something hit her hard from the right. Her first thought was of her parents – her mother to be precise, she had never known her father. Everyone back home would have no idea what had happened to her. She would have just vanished without a trace.

But then it occurred to her, while she was lying in the foetal position on the ground, that whatever had hit her was _talking _to her. Shaking her, too. Ashley looked through her fingers to see Jill.

'_Get up_!' she screamed. '_Get up now_!'

Ashley scrambled to her feet without hesitation. Looking around, she realised that Jill had pushed her out of the way of the creature. The other three men surrounded it, stabbing at it with their spears. It hissed and spat, and lashed out at them with its sharp-ended legs. It caught one of the men in the midriff and he fell back with a scream. As soon as he landed on his back, he was engulfed by dozens of tiny black creatures. He writhed and screamed. The others looked on in horror. She looked up to see even more of them spilling out of the walls.

'What do we do?' Jill yelled at her. '_What do we do_?'

Ashley stood, mouth ajar, watching as the creatures quickly got the better of the remaining two men. Jill shook her hard in terror.

'_What do we do_?'

Ashley swallowed hard. 'Run.' She mumbled, and then found her voice. 'Get out of here! Run!'

Jill started towards the others, but Ashley hauled her towards the exit. 'Come _on!_' She yelled. Jill looked to the others, but she knew that it was no use going back of them.

Ashley pushed Jill hard towards the opening and began to follow. Behind her, she heard the creature hissing. She didn't have to look to know that it was preparing to dive at her again. She started running after Jill but she slipped in something slimy. She landed on her front and all the air escaped her.

'_Ashley_!' Jill screeched, sounding like she was already outside.

Absurdly, Ashley thought, _at least she's not calling me Deity anymore_.

She looked over her shoulder, having to blow her red hair out of her face. Behind her it was crouching down and ready to jump; it's eyes gleaming, it's teeth glittering. Ashley gritted her teeth and scowled as a warm feeling crept in her stomach. With that feeling came a sudden rush of anger – from where, she had no idea – but she was _furious_.

With a _whomff_, the creature suddenly went up in flames, like a gas hob being turned on. It shrieked sickening, blood-curdling shriek and began to barrel around, flames engulfing every part of it. Ashley stared in horror before scrambling to her feet and racing towards Jill at the opening.

'What happened?' Jill cried. 'Where did the fire come from?'

Ashley looked back into the cave. The creature bounced off the walls. The smaller creatures wailed and screamed as they too caught fire. 'I… I don't know…'

Something suddenly raced towards them, a mass of flames and inhuman screaming. Jill dragged Ashley back out of the way so hard that they both hit the ground. They looked up, watching the biggest of the creatures streak away through the trees, flames and black smoke trailing from it.

'It's heading back towards the village!' Jill yelled, scrambling to her feet and racing after it.

Ashley got up a moment later and followed, still feeling a warm, tingling sensation in her stomach.

* * *

The Doctor ran into the village and looked around, wild-eyed. There didn't seem to be anyone around. He checked every shelter, but found no one apart from a few cowering mothers and children who wouldn't speak to him at all.

He should have just stayed. Going back to the ship had only given him more fodder to stress over. It would have been fine just not knowing. What had Ashley said? She would like to reign in ignorance? Oh that would be lovely.

He sniffed the air with a frown. Was that burning?

The Doctor turned just as the shrill screaming came into earshot. His face dropped as he saw black smoke moving incredibly fast through the trees. He could hear raised voices also. One of those was definitely Ashley.

'She didn't…' he mumbled.

The giant Arakreu burst out of the trees and flailed into the camp, practically a blackened, charred mess. It fell straight onto a shelter, and immediately the shelter caught fire. Ashley and Jill raced after it, Ashley pointing at Jill and yelling;

'Water! Get water!'

Obediently, Jill immediately ran to the water trough, ordering others who had returned from the hunt to also get water. Ashley ran to the Doctor as the large creature flopped and flailed, obviously dying. She grabbed him by the front on his shirt, her eyes almost as bright as the flames behind her.

'I think I did that!' she cried excitedly. 'I… I don't know what happened but I just got really _angry_ and then… _poof!' _She laughed - borderline hysterical laughter. 'Isn't that _amazing_?'

The Doctor looked at her expression and then looked behind her. He watched the creature finally die. The villagers threw water onto the flames. He swallowed, and said; 'Staggering.'

* * *

_Ack, I hope this reads back okay... I've read it over a couple of times but I'm feeling a bit brain-dead today, so if you notice something urgh in the writing or the storyline in general, point it out to me please! :P_ _And I guess you know what I'm going to say next... thanks for reading xD_


	12. Tears in the Rain

**Chapter 12**

**Tears in the Rain**

The villagers extinguished the fire and luckily no one was seriously hurt, except of course for the three men who had been in Ashley's group and Jack, who was now blind as well as deaf. The remains of the creature were removed. No one had asked where it had come from, but Jill had told them all anyway. She told them all about the ship, and that there was another creature inside.

Sitting side by side on the floor, leaning against a wooden log, the Doctor and Ashley watched the group gather and head towards the mountain. The two of them were exhausted.

'They're going to block up the tunnel.' Ashley said, her head resting on the Doctor's shoulder.

'Well,' the Doctor scrunched his nose. 'It's probably for the best really. Hopefully they'll block it good enough so no one will find it.'

'Did you find out who was following you then?'

The Doctor was quiet for a moment. He sighed and glanced to her. 'No.' he told her. 'I couldn't get the audio to work on any of the feeds. Time must have degraded the wires.'

Ashley eyed him for a moment, and then sighed. 'Well I guess it's just going to be another one of those mysteries. At least I'll always know that in the year 14,000 BC I was a God. Although it would have been good to find out why they thought I was a god.'

The Doctor swallowed, uncomfortable. 'Yeah, it would have.'

Ashley glanced to him. 'Are you okay?'

'Yeah.' He smiled broadly at her. 'Yeah I'm fine. Peachy. Fandabbydosy. I guess now we can actually get back into the Tardis and get you back in your own time.'

Ashley blinked. 'Oh, yeah.' She frowned faintly. 'I guess so.'

'Bet you're looking forward to getting that door fixed.' The Doctor smiled at her.

'Oh the bloody door.' Ashley grimaced, rubbing her face with her hand. 'Oh god I wish I'd just let that thing eat me now. It's better than facing Manny's wrath.'

The Doctor chuckled. 'Of all the things you saw…'

'Maybe I can just make him burst into flames too.'

The Doctor's smile faded. He shifted uncomfortably. Ashley noticed and shrugged her shoulders.

'I won't really.' She said lamely.

The Doctor sat forward, arms resting on his knees. 'We need to talk about that.' He said quietly.

'I gathered that.' Ashley nodded.

The Doctor looked at her morosely. 'You're going to have to keep yourself under control. Do you think you can control it?'

Ashley nodded. 'I can practice.' She replied confidently.

The Doctor eyed her. 'I'll have to check in on you.'

Ashley smiled. 'You're welcome around my house anytime.'

His expression didn't change. 'If you can't keep it under control-'

'There's no need for warnings,' Ashley told him, half smiling. 'I can do it. I've gone this long without causing major havoc, I think I can last a little longer.'

The Doctor nodded and leaned back again. 'We'll wait for those lot to get back before we shoot off, shall we?'

'Yeah.' Ashley nodded. 'I want to see Jill before we go anyway.'

She leaned her head on his shoulder again and they sat in silence. The Doctor's mind whirred, wondering whether or not to share with her the truth. For now, he decided, he would leave it be.

For now.

* * *

Every single member of the village trekked with them to the Tardis to see them off. The Doctor grinned the whole time, but Ashley noticed there was something missing from his grin. She couldn't place exactly what it was, and she didn't ask him, but she knew there was something up. She was worried it had something to do with her.

'It was an honour to have you at our village,' the chief told them, who had actually waited until this moment to reveal himself to either of them. He was a short, pot-bellied man who looked comical beside his Amazonian wife. 'We thank you for saving our village.'

Ashley winced. 'Well technically, it _was_ our fau-'

The Doctor elbowed her and smiled at the chief. 'We were pleased too. Really.'

Ashley frowned at him, rubbing her elbow. The chief looked between them, a little confused, and then stepped aside, his arm outstretched.

'And as a thanks, we'd like to offer you our best to ensure your strength and wisdom is passed on for generations to come.'

The Doctor and Ashley exchanged a look. 'Well, we don't want anything, really…'

A tall, broad shouldered and very handsome young man with shining brown hair and bright green eyes stepped forward. 'For the Deity.' The chief told them.

Ashley's mouth dropped open. 'Oh… Oh I… well, that's very nice of you but… well… I can't possibly…'

'Does he not suit you?' the chief asked.

'What? Oh… He's very nice.' Ashley nodded, blushing. 'He's got nice… um… eyes and he's very…' She cocked her head. 'He's very muscley…'

The Doctor took Ashley's arm. 'The offer is appreciated, let me tell you, but we haven't got enough room to take them with us.' He patted the Tardis. 'She's not very big you see, this rock of ours. Another two and it would get a bit… uh, crampt.'

Ashley was smiling at the handsome man. 'I'm sure we can squeeze him in.' she said.

The Doctor pulled her towards the Tardis. 'No, he wouldn't.' he said. 'Come on. It was lovely to meet you all, really.'

The villagers watched in bewilderment as the Doctor went inside the Tardis, pulling Ashley after him. Ashley waved and grinned at the handsome man until the door was pulled shut. Inside, she turned to the Doctor.

'That was rude you know.' She said.

'You think I'm going to have you and him pouring yourselves all over each other in my Tardis?' the Doctor scoffed. 'I think not.'

Ashley crossed her arms over her chest. 'Spoilsport.'

The Doctor looked at her and half smiled. 'Next stop, 2008.'

Ashley smiled, but couldn't help feeling disappointed.

* * *

'Aw man this is crap.' Ashley grimaced as she opened the door of the Tardis. 'Soon as I get home it's bloody raining.'

The Doctor pulled the collar of his coat up and pulled the door shut after they both stepped out. 'You always notice the worst things when you've had a good holiday.'

'Good holiday?' Ashley smirked. 'I've had better trips to the dentist.'

They stood in silence for a few minutes, rain lashing down on them. Neither of them seemed to want to move. For once, Ashley appeared to be lost for words. It was the Doctor who had to break the silence.

'I guess this is it then.' he shrugged. 'You're back. Finally.'

Ashley nodded. 'You'd make a terrible taxi driver.'

The Doctor smiled. 'At least I wouldn't overcharge for petrol.'

They stood again awkwardly, neither of them wanting to be the one to turn away and leave first. Eventually, Ashley nodded towards her house. 'Don't you want to come in for a bit? Cup of coffee… or tea… or whatever you drink. I have whisky.'

'I should really get going.' The Doctor replied, pointing back to the Tardis. 'You know… places to go…'

Ashley's smile faded. 'Okay well… I suppose I should thank you for like… saving my life and everything.'

'Don't.' The Doctor shook his head. 'I get embarrassed. I go red, it's not pretty.'

Ashley smiled fondly and then moved forward and hugged him, taking him off guard. He was surprised for a moment, before hugging her back. They held each other for a moment, before Ashley let go and stepped back, her eyes a little wet.

'You'll be kicking around here again at some point, won't you?' she asked, trying to hide the fact she was upset.

'Sure, yeah course.' The Doctor nodded. 'I have to come back and check you're not torching buildings anyway.' He was smiling, but there was no humour.

Ashley nodded. 'Well… bye.'

'Goodbye, Ashley.'

She lingered a moment longer, and then turned and headed away down the drenched alley. She felt a few tears, but she wiped them away. She had kind of been hoping that he would let her stay a little longer, even one last trip somewhere that they hadn't accidentally landed. She had experienced the most magnificent things with the Doctor, and she had discovered that he was a magnificent man… or alien she supposed… but either way to have someone like that just burst into your life and screw it up so much only to disappear into thin air straight away. She wouldn't be the same person now.

She dreaded the thought of returning to work in the pub.

'Ashley! Wait!'

Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of the Doctor running to catch up with her. She turned to and watched him reach her, hoping that he was going to ask her to stay. She was almost halfway through saying 'Of course I will!' before he even spoke.

'I suppose one cup of tea won't hurt.' He smiled at her.

She was stunned to silence for a moment. That hadn't been what she had expecting, but it would do. 'Cool.' She smiled.

He fell into step beside her as they headed up the street to her house. 'I only came back because you were crying.' The Doctor told her with a cheeky smile.

'I wasn't crying.' Ashley replied with a similar smile. 'It was raining on my face.'

**TBC**

* * *

_Well... there we are. That one kind of hurt my brain a bit to write lol! I know it wasn't as good as Black Conscious but I hope you all enjoyed it anyway. I kind of had to write it if I wanted my long-term storyline to pan out - as I'm having them all link together like in the actual show (hopefully :p)_

_Anywhoo... thanks everyone for your faves and your alerts and your reviews, i'm chuffed with them :D And like I said before, you're all like ooozing with cool xD (Oooh I just decided right now that I love the word oooze :p) I've started Episode Three and it should be up soon!_


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